This week’s monsters are real—that is, they are (or were) real creatures. What they have in common is their tendency to kill, and often eat, human beings. They are the apex predators of our world. Many are already extinct, and more are critically endangered. Can we learn to share a planet with creatures who see humans as prey? What happens if we don’t? What does the Bible have to say about it?
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Welcome to the first Sunday of Faith in an Age of Monsters! What does faith look like in monstrous times? Monster storms, terrorism, pandemics, disasters, mass shootings, genocide. How do we live our faith in an age of monsters? Jesus, King Solomon, and JRR Tolkien will weigh in on the big picture.
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Today we visit Noah and his floating zoo. Why exactly do we think the drowning of almost all life on the planet is a children’s story? Was there actually a flood? Is there a broader lesson we can learn from this story? (Hint: Yes, there is)
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We’re going to jump over the story of the Great Flood for now and take a look at that last of the “pre-history” stories the Bible gives us. The story is usually called the Tower of Babel and is found in Genesis 11. Why is God so upset with people who are just trying to build a city with a tower? What’s wrong with speaking the same language? The story isn’t complicated to read; but what truth(s) could it possibly hold for us today?
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(Diana Butler Bass, August 31, 2023)
From September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world mark the Season of Creation, a relatively recent development in the liturgical calendar.
The practice began in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 a day of prayer for the environment. In 2000, a Lutheran congregation in Australia developed a four-week celebration of creation — and the idea spread throughout that nation and beyond. Eventually, the Vatican picked up the practice and the World Council of Churches promoted the new liturgical season.
During these weeks, Christians are urged to recognize the theological centrality of God the Creator, Creation itself, the human vocation of caring for Creation, and doing justice on behalf of the Earth and all of her inhabitants.
All creation is a temple, says St. Gregory the Great.
Every tree, stone, lizard, rabbit, meteor, comet, and star to us is holy.
—Ernesto Cardenal
For all of its struggles internally, especially in the West, Christianity remains the world’s largest religion — and it is incumbent upon people of faith to work for the Earth’s healing and renewal in this time of crisis. Christians bear the burden of being part of the problem as many Christian traditions have badly muddled their theologies of creation and promoted practices that colonized and destroyed the very world we were instructed to “till and keep.”
The Season of Creation is marked by repentance for that past, a call to deepen theological reflection and spiritual awareness of Creation, and engaging justice on behalf of nature and our neighbors. Attending to Creation in liturgy, prayer, scripture, and spirituality may be one of the most significant theological shifts in contemporary Christianity, and is certainly one of the most needed.
The World Day of Prayer for Creation is not a kind of off-handed “thoughts and prayers” dismissal. It is an invitation to experience faith differently, to center Creation and the Creator, and to learn the Bible and theology anew. This day invites us to metanoia — a profound change of heart and life, a genuine conversion toward a Creation-based vision of God, nature, and neighbor.
And, as I hope Cottage readers know, this invitation is not exclusive to Christians. The Cottage is, as always, open. Everyone is welcome to this month of creation reflection — whatever your faith, practice, or tradition. Please contribute insights from your sacred texts, offer prayers from your tradition, and share generously as we join this journey together.
We all need a new heart when it comes to the repair of this hurting, wounded world. And we need each other now — as urgently as the planet needs us.
For the next month, we will continue to explore the Season of Creation here at The Cottage — especially in Sunday Musings.
Read Diana’s post online here, or join Pastor Anne in subscribing to her blog/newsletter (“The Cottage”) for free, here. (It’s not a free trial, it’s free as long as you’d like to receive it.)